Grass-catcher.



w. oss. GRASS OATGHER. I APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 14, 1912.

Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

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CDLUMBI A PLANoalgAPi-l 60-. WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITE TAT -j TET FTQE.

WILLIAM BOSS, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

GRASS-CATCHER.

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Application filed September 14, 1912.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM Boss, a citizenof the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey andState of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGrass-Catchers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to grass catchers for use with lawn mowers.

It is the object of my invention to provide a grass catcher which mayreadily be attached to and detached from a lawn mower without the use ofbolts or screws or any permanent attaching device secured to the lawnmower and which at the same time shall be held securely in position onthe lawn mower while the same is being operated and will be particularlyeasy to remove when the same shall be filled with clippings for thepurpose of emptying said clippings.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a grass catcher havingthe above characteristics which shall have means for holding the grassclippings therein without slipping when the lawn mower and attachedgrass catcher shall be brought to a sudden stop at the end of a mowingmovement thereof.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear inconnection with the detailed description thereof and are particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, illustrating the application of my invention in oneform, Figure 1 shows a plan view of a lawn mower having my improvedgrass catcher connected therewith. Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken insection of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan View of myimproved grass catcher showing the manner in which the suspending meansis detached from the body of the grass catcher and stored in the bottomthereof for nesting in shipping. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of theretarding means employed in my improved grass catcher. Figs. 6 and 7 aredetail views showing how the supporting hook is assembled when thecatcher is set up for working.

The body of the grass catcher comprises a bottom 10 and side walls 11and a back wall 12, all of which may preferably be formed or stamped outof a single piece of sheet metal or similar material, a wire binding 13of usual construction operating to stiifen the free edges of the end andside walls. To the bottom 10 is secured, by

means of bolts 14 or otherwise, a pair of irons 15 which, as clearlyshown in Fig. 2, are arched upwardly at 16, the end being turneddownwardly again, as indicated at 17, and a portion 18 of said ironbeing split from the part 17 and further turned downwardly and forwardlyto form a cleft such as will engage over and under the cutter bar holder19 of the lawn mower when the grass catcher is in position foroperation. The back wall 12 is provided with an aperture 20 and the sidewalls 11 with apertures 21 placed close to the wire binding 13. Atwisted Wire handle brace 22 has three arms each provided with a hook23, 24 and 25, respectively, the entire handle brace being of such sizethat the same will fit in the bottom of the grass catcher whendisassembled therefrom, as shown in Fig. 3. The hook 23 is formed of theloop end of the wire having two sides spaced apart and is adapted to beinserted from the outside through the elongated opening 20 in wall 12,while hooks 24 and 25 may be inserted through apertures 21 in side walls11 from the outside thereof by springing said side walls inwardly forthat purpose. A handle 26 is provided having at one end thereof a hook27 which is adapted to be passed through the loop end of hook 23 betweenthe two wires of member 22, after the member 22 has been assembled uponthe grass catcher, as shown in Fig. 2. The handle 26 has a loop 28 uponthe end away from hook 27 and turned at right angles to said hook 27 forengaging over the push bar 29 of the lawn mower, as shown in Figs. 1 and2. The hook 27 may, as indicated in Fig. 7, be of considerable length sothat after the same has been assembled upon the loop of hook 23 it mayeasily be bent up against the shank 26, as indicated at 30 in Fig. 6.All of the parts are thus readily detachable to be positioned fornesting the grass catcher for shipment, as indicated in Fig. 3.

In applying the grass catcher to a lawn mower it is simply necessary toslip forks on the irons 15 composed of the portions 17 and 18 over theupper edge of the cutter bar holder 19 and apply the loop 28 about thepusher bar 29, and when the bar 29 is raised into operative position thegrass catcher will be held attached to the lawn mower, the angle of theholder 26 being such as constantly to push the forks formed of members17, 18 against the cutter bar holder 19, while the arched portion 16will pass over and span the roller 31 of the lawn mower. The bolts 14securing the front por- 3 tion of irons 15 to the bottom 10 may besecured through any one of a series of holes 32 in said bottom, by whichmeans the spread of the forks composed of members 17 and 18 may bevaried to adjust the grass catcher for attachment to lawn mowers ofdifferent widths.

in mowing a lawn, at the end of a given row the operator usually bringsthe machine to a stop somewhat abruptly, and 5 often will need to pushthe machine back and forth in short strokes or reciprocations for thepurpose of cutting out around shrubbery, walks, trees, etc. It is foundin practice that the grass clippings in a grass catcher will tend toslide forward upon the bottom every time the lawn mower is brought to astop, frequently piling up on the roller and blades so as to interferewith the efficiency of the work. To overcome this difiiculty I provide aseries of projections 33 in the bottom of my grass catcher, and ifdesired the same type of projections may be provided along the sidewalls. In view of the fact that the operator will frequently want topush the clippings in the grass catcher rearwardly to the back thereof,and also since the forward movement of the grass will most effectuallybe prevented by projections turned backw'ardly, the projections which Ihave provided will preferably be formed with a sloping front wall and beturned so as to point toward the back wall 12. Various methods may beemployed for providing the desired projections. I find a verysatisfactory form of projection, and one which is extremely efiicient inuse and at the same time can be conveniently and cheaply provided isthat illustrated in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, in which the metal forming thebottom is punched up so as to lift a portion thereof breaking the samefree from the body of metal at the back and having a series of smalltongues extending cleanly from the bottom surface and turned backwardly50 toward the back wall. Such projections engage in the grass at thebottom of the grass catcher and hold the same from forward slipping. Atthe same time the production of rows of such projections actually hasthe effect of transversely stiflening the bottom of the grass catcher,and the projections cannot injure the hand of the operator under anynormal conditions of use. 7

I provide a lip 34 at the front of the grass 60 catcher which may besolderedto the front edge of the bottom 10 and will be supported by andsecured to the upwardly sloping portion of the arch 16 of the ironswhich will hold the lip 34 rigidly positioned at the 65 front of thebottom of the grass catcher. A

series of apertures 35 is provided in the lip 34 similar to apertures 32in bottom 10 so that when the irons 15 are adjusted to fit the grasscatcher for lawn mowers of different sizes such adjustment may also bemade on the lip 34. It is obvious that in place of the series ofapertures, as shown slots may be employed.

The advantageous features of my improved grass catcher will be apparent.No attaching means of any sort will need to be secured to the lawnmower. The grass catcher can be attached and detached with the utmostease and yet will be supported accurately and without in any wayinterfering with the function of the lawn mower, the arch 16 of theirons 15 permitting the roller 31 to operate in all respects normally.The irons 15 will preferably be formed of malleable iron, in which casethe bend of the arch 16 may be varied as desired to span rollers ofdifferent sizes, and the adjusting feature of the irons 15 will make itpossible to use a single size of grass catcher on all ordinary sizes oflawn mowers having blades running from twelve to eighteen inches length.The detajchability ofv the handle brace 22 and holder 26 is a matter ofmaterial convenience in nesting these grass catchers for shipment sincethe walls 11 and 12 thereof are comparatively rigid structures.Furthermore, the provision of the projections 33 in the bottom 10, andalso in the walls 11, if desired, gives an extremely effective means forpreventing the forward slippage of grass clippings when the machine isbrought to a sudden stop, as must be done very frequently in the courseof mowing an ordinary lawn. l

I claim:

1. A grass catcher comprising a receptacle for grass clippings, a pairof bars secured to the bottom of said receptacle and having cleft endsfor freely engaging fover and under the cutter bar holder of a lawn 110mower, said bars being provided with an upward and downward arch forcarrying the same out of contact with the roller of the lawn mower, anda lip extended from the bottom of the receptacle and supported by 115the arched portion of said bars.

2. A grass catcher comprising a receptacle for grass clippings having asheet metal bottom, and a series of members projecting upwardly fromsaid bottom for preventing 12o forward slippage 'of the grass clippingsalong said bottom when the lawn mower andreceptacle is brought to asudden stop.

3. A grass catcher comprising areceptacle for grass clippings havingsheet metal 125 bottom and side walls, and a series of munbersprojecting upwardly from said bottom and inwardly from said walls forpreventing forward slippage of the grass clippings within the receptaclewhen the lawn 130 mower and receptacle is brought to a sudden stop.

4:. A grass catcher comprising a receptacle for grass clippings having asheet metal bottom, parts of said bottom being punched upwardly frombelow to form a series of rearwardly pointing upstanding members forpreventing forward slippage of the grass clippings along said bottomwhen the lawn mower and receptacle is brought to a sudden stop.

5. A grass catcher comprising a receptacle for grass clippings having asheet metal bottom a pair of upwardly arched 5 bars secured to saidbottom and having cleft ends for freely engaging over and under thecutter bar holder of a lawn mower, a lip extended from the bottom of thereceptacle and supported by the arched portion of said bars, and aseries of rearwardly pointing upstanding members formed from the body ofsaid bottom for preventing forward slippage of the grass clippings alongsaid bottom when the lawn mower and receptacle is brought to a suddenstep.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM BOSS.

Witnesses:

H. A. BOWMAN, IRENE EMPENGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

